Siva Gita – Chapter 6 – The Glory of the Supreme Being – Slokas 1 – Slokas 57, Uttara Khanda, Padma Purana

Prabhu Shri Rama uvācha, “O Lord! Having heard that you declare that You are the creator of the universe, a great wonderment springs forth within me. You are the Lord with the moon on Your crest, with three eyes and radiant as pure crystal.

 

You have a form of slight height with a masculine appearance accompanied by Mother Parvati and sport here itself with your entourage of attendants.

 

How do you create, protect and dissolve the world made of five elements (pancha bhutas) and comprising of animate and inanimate beings? Tell me, O the beloved of Parvati! If you have any mercy on me.”

 

Shri Bhagawan uvācha, “Listen O Rama, the high-souled and of noble observances and vows! I will tell you that which is difficult to comprehend even for the gods and which can be understood only by renunciation, resolve and effort and through which you will cross to the other shore of the sea of births and deaths with ease.

 

The five elements, the fourteen worlds, the oceans, the mountains, the rakshasas and the sages seen are My glorious manifestations.

 

And others that are seen like the static trees and dynamic beings, the Gandharvas, the attendants of Shiva and the Nagas are all My glorious manifestations.

 

Gods like Brahma were desirous to see My personal form in the ancient days and churned the Mandara Parvat together that is dearest to Me.

 

The gods standing in front of Me praised Me with folded palms. On seeing them in front of Me, I, in jest saw that the gods became deluded and the intelligence of Brahma and the other celestial beings was blurred.

 

They repeatedly asked Me in their ignorance, “Who are you?” Then, I told the gods, “I am the Primordial Being.”

 

O gods! I was first of all. I remain as I am at the present. I will do so in the future too. There is nothing other than I in this world.

 

O leader of the gods! There is nothing whatsoever other than Myself, permanent or impermanent. Blemishless, I am the Lord of the Vedas and of Brahma.

 

O leader of the gods! I extend unto the south, unto the north, unto the east and the west, above and below. I am the ultimate and intermediate directions.

 

I am the sacred syllable of Sāvitrī, also Gāyatrī, woman, man and eunuch, the metres of Trishtup, Jagati, Anushtup and Pankti and the three Vedas.

 

I am the Truth among all, the tranquil, the three household fires (agni), the scriptural study and rituals and the Preceptor, the speech, the secret, the heaven and the Lord of the world.

 

I am the foremost, best among all the gods, greatest of the knowers of Truth, am the Lord of the waters, am the noblest, the Supreme with six attributes, the ruler, the light and the first cause of all.

 

I am the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda, all of which manifest from Me, the Atharvana that is full of sacred mantras and likewise I am the renowned Angiras.

 

I am the Itihasa, the Puranas, I am the Kalpa and the performer of rituals. I am the Nārāśaṃsī, I am the Gāthā, I am meditation and I am the secret wisdom of the Upanishads.

 

I am the Vedic shlokas, the aphorisms of the sages, the sub-commentaries, notes and observations and I am the commentaries. Similarly, I am the sciences, the Vedic sacrifices, the oblation and the offerings.

 

I am the giver as well as the gift; I am this world and the afterworld; I am the imperishable and the perishable; I am the controller of the senses and of the mind and I am the indweller of the senses.

 

I am the hidden secret in all the Vedas; I am the forest and the unborn. I am the nourisher and the pure; I am the middle and anything beyond it. I am the exterior as well as the interior; I am the front and the imperishable.

 

And I am the Light as well as darkness. I am the subtle elements and the senses. I am the intellect and the egoity. Verily, I alone am all the objects of experience.

 

I am Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara. I am Umā, Skānda and Vināyaka. I am Indra, Agni and Yama. I am Nirṛti, Varuna and Vāyu.

 

I am Kubera, similarly Īśāna, the worlds of Bhu, Bhuvah, Svah, Mahar, Janah, Tapah and Satyam. And I am the earth and I am the waters, fire and air.

 

I am the space; I am the sun, the moon and the stars. I am the planets too. I am the vital breath, time and similarly death and immortality. I am the physical matter too.

 

I am the past and the future. I am the universe in entirety. I am the sum and the quintessence of everything. For those who silently chant, I am the OM at the beginning. I am the vyāhṛtī of bhu, bhuvah and svah in the middle; and then the Gāyatrī and the end. I am the form of the expansive universe.

 

I am the eaten and the drunk. I am too the done and the undone. I am the superior and the inferior. I am the sun and the refuge of all.

 

I am the good of the world; I am also the divine, the imperishable and the subtle. I am the very self of Prajapati. I am the sacred, the gentle, the ungraspable and the first.

 

I am alone the withdrawer. I am the container of the luminous fire of deluge. I am established in the heart of everyone as divinity and vital power.

 

I am the very Omkara consisting of three whose head is the north, feet the south and all that is in between.

 

I am truly the Omkara, one, eternal and ancient because I lead the devout upwards and send them down when their merits are exhausted.

 

I am called Pranava because I as Brahma while conducting the sacrifice ensure that the Ritwiks pay obeisance to the Brahmanas.

 

Just as ghee pervades the piece of meat and makes the eater of that meat grow, similarly I pervade all the worlds and therefore, I am the all-pervader of all.

 

As Brahma, Lord Vishnu and others did not see the beginning or end of My form, I am called the Infinite.

 

Since I save My devotee from the ocean of the dread of being born in a womb, old age, death and cycle of births and deaths, I am called the saviour.

 

I dwell as the very essence in the four kinds of bodies namely born of womb, of egg, of sweat and of the earth. Taking a subtle form, I live in the heart. Therefore, I am called subtle and am subtlest of the subtle.

 

I illumine the devout immersed in the primeval darkness of ignorance with My unparalleled light like that of lightning. Therefore, I am known as lightning.

 

Since I alone create and dissolve the worlds, make one go from one world to another and bestow grace, I am only the Supreme Lord.

 

Since there is no second to the transcendent Brahman which withdraws all the beings into Itself, that Brahman alone exists as Rudra.

 

Since I rule all the worlds along with My wondrous powers of maya, I am the Īśāna of this world, the Lord and the witnessing eye.

 

The scriptures extols Me, the Īśāna as Indra, Brahma and the Lord of all at all times and the Lord of disciplines of knowledge. Hence, I am called Īśāna in both the Rig and Yajur Vedas.

 

I behold all beings both animate and inanimate. I teach the knowledge of the Self and the path to that knowledge. I pervade everything. Therefore, I am called Bhagawan.

 

I perpetually create, protect and dissolve all the worlds and uplift them all. Hence, I am Maheshwara.

 

He, the great Lord takes pleasure in His wonderous powers and Yoga of Self-Knowledge. He creates and protects all that exists. I am that Lord.

 

I, this Lord am present everywhere. I am the ancient being and prior to everything else. I am in the womb. I am the born and that which is to be born. I have faces in every direction. I am the indwelling spirit in beings.

 

I have eyes everywhere; I face all directions. My arms stretch everywhere; My feet stretch everywhere. With My arms and feet, I command the world producing the earth and heaven as one absolute Lord.

 

Those wise men who directly see Me as abiding in their own self, in the centre of their heart, of the size of the tip of the hair, of the form of the universe, as the source of the Vedas and to be always prayed to, for them alone is there eternal peace but not so for others.

 

I alone stand as the basis for this world of maya. All the five-fold elements are pervaded by Me. One who enquires in this way about Me, the Lord, the Supreme Person and the Commander of the universe attains incomparable peace.

 

The impressions of mind implicit in the vital airs are said to be hunger, thirst and restlessness. Those who cutting asunder the thirst that is responsible for all the activities fix their mind in Me through reason and discrimination meditating on Me get the eternal peace but not so for others.

 

One who knows Me as Brahman and experiences the bliss from where speech along with mind are unable to reach does not fear anything.

 

Hearing My words on the Supreme Knowledge as the means for liberation, chanting My names and giving themselves to meditating on Me, all the gods at the end of their lifetime attained union with Me in the days of yore. From such a knowledge, all the things seen everywhere by them are manifestations of My glory.

 

From Me alone everything is born. In Me everything is established. In Me everything is dissolved. I am that Brahman which is non-dual.

 

I alone am subtler than the subtlest; likewise I am the great. I am the world and am pure untainted by creation. I am the most ancient. I am the complete being. I am the sovereign. I am golden and of the very form of auspiciousness.

 

I hold without hands and walk without feet; I am inestimable power; I see without eyes; I hear without ears. I am every manifest form and there is no one who knows Me. I am the Supreme Consciousness.

 

I am alone the One revealed by all the Vedas. I am the author of Vedanta; and I am alone the Knower of the Vedas. There is no merit and demerit in Me; there is no destruction for Me; nor is there birth, sensory organs and intellect for Me.

 

Earth, water, fire and air do not find a place in Me; nor the space. Thus, knowing the nature of the Supreme Self indwelling in the cave of the heart, indivisible and non-dual, witness unto all and devoid of cause and effect, one attains the pure Supreme Self that I am.

 

O Rama of great intelligence! One who knows Me truly will alone and none other in all the worlds attains the fruit of liberation.”

 

[Siva Gita – Chapter 6 – The Glory of the Supreme Being – Slokas 1 – Slokas 57, Uttara Khanda, Padma Purana]